This invention relates to sealing members for master cylinders.
A typical conventional sealing member for use with a master cylinder will first be described with reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings.
The master cylinder shown in FIG. 1 is designed to be installed in a brake booster for a road vehicle and comprises a cylinder body 1 provided with a stepped inner bore 1a having an open rear end (right-hand end as viewed in FIG. 1), first and second pistons 2 and 3 axially slidably supported within the bore 1a by means of cup seals A, B and C, and springs 4 and 5 for urging the pistons 2 and 3, respectively, rearwardly or rightwardly. The master cylinder further arranged so that the rightward axial movement of the first piston 2 is limited by engaging a head or larger diameter portion 2a thereof with an annular stop 6 fixed to an inner stepped portion 1b of the cylinder body 1, thereby determining its initial or rest position. First piston 2 includes a shank or smaller diameter portion 2b outwardly extending through sealing members 7, 7 located within the inner bore 1a and rearward of the stop 6.
The stop 6 is retained by a clip 8 detachably fitted within an annular groove 1c formed in the inner wall surface of the cylinder body 1, and the sealing members 7, 7 together with a pair of annular retaining plates 9, 9 and a corrugated spacer 10 are also held by a further clip 11 fitted within an annular groove 1d formed in the inner wall surface of the cylinder body 1. The space 10 has on its opposite surfaces a plurality of radially extending crests and troughs in alternate disposition, and cylinder body 1 also has a small radial hole 1e formed in its wall, so that if there is a leakage of hydraulic braking fluid through a clearance between the smaller diameter portion 2b of the piston 2 and the forward or leftward sealing member 7, it might be discharged through the forward troughs of the spacer 10 and the hole 1e of the cylinder body 1 to the exterior.
As seen in FIG. 1, the forward sealing member 7 is contacted at its base portion 7a with the forwardly protruding crests of the corrugated spacer 10, and the rearward or rightward sealing member 7 is contacted at its outer and inner annular lip portions 7b and 7c with the rearwardly protruding crests of the spacer 10. Thus, when the forward sealing member receives the hydraulic fluid pressure in the rightward direction, the base portion 7a of thereof will tend to be intruded into the forward troughs of the spacer 10, thereby causing a risk of reducing the contact pressure of the lip portions 7b and 7c of the forward sealing member 7 to the associated surfaces of the cylinder body 1 and the piston 2 and further resulting in that the rearward crests of the spacer 10 tend to separate the lip portions 7b and 7c of the rearward sealing member 7 from the associated surfaces of the cylinder body 1 and the piston 2 to lower the sealing ability. In addition, there are further drawbacks that the corrugated spacer has to be provided between the forward and rearward sealing members and the assembly requires much time and cost.
The present invention has for its object to remove the risks and drawbacks of the conventional sealing members described above.
The present invention basically utilizes a technical measure that an axially extending annular rib portion is integrally provided on the sealing member between outer and inner lip portions, the rib being formed with a plurality of radial slots which are, preferably, equi-angularly spaced from one another, and the rib portion at its free end being in abutting engagement with a rear surface of a base portion of an adjacent or forward sealing member, thereby bringing fourth the effect of appropriately positioning the sealing members, easily assembling the cylinder with a reduced number of parts and requiring no corrugaged spacer .